Just Another Ordinary Day
by potionsmaster
Summary: Part 2 of "the In-Betweens". Shepard doesn't make a big deal about his birthday, but that doesn't mean other people will do the same. Just a bit of mshenko fluff for April 11. :)


_**Just Another Ordinary Day**_, by potionsmaster

Rating: T for language

A/N: ME1 on the Normandy; takes place during the next few weeks after _Wish You Were Here_. Part 2 of 'the In-Betweens'. Just a feel-good fluff piece for April 11. :)

* * *

"Hey, uh...Joker? Did you know Shepard's birthday is coming up?"

The helmsman cocked an eyebrow at the dark haired biotic seated in the co-pilot's chair. Kaidan was running a diagnostics program for the Normandy's fuel lines; ever since they left Esquimalt, they'd been burning through it at a faster rate than usual.

"Naw. I mean, I knew it was soon, but I wasn't, like, keeping _track_ or anything. Why?"

"I think the crew should do something, show our appreciation for him. What do you think?"

Joker twisted in his chair and looked at him, brow furrowed. "I guess...maybe he'd lighten up a bit; he's been riding my ass about the fuel thing. Does he even like presents? Or surprises, for that matter?"

Kaidan sat back in his seat, chewing his bottom lip in thought. "Guess we'll find out."

"You're not talking, like, streamers and hats and confetti with a cake, are you? Because that'd be real weird."

"God no! I'm thinking we all chip in and get him a new mod or scope for his sniper. Something he wouldn't be able to get on his own. If we all chip in some credits, we could probably get something master grade. Maybe a kinetic stabilizer that'll decrease the sway? Or d'you think a combat optics mod? He's always on the look out for a better one to increase accuracy."

"Whoa there, big dreamer...How many creds we talkin'?" Kaidan shrugged; he hadn't thought about it.

"What about a scram rail?" Joker suggested. "Add that sucker to his Volkov and it'd stop an elcor."

"I dunno..."

"Why don't you ask Ash, or Garrus? They use snipers. And Ash is the friggin' gunnery chief; she knows his weapons, probably better than he does."

Kaidan huffed a laugh. "Every once in a while you actually have a decent idea."

"I know...don't spread it around; it'll ruin my carefully cultivated reputation as a degenerate," Joker sighed, turning back to his monitors. The lieutenant heaved himself out of the chair.

"I think you're safe on that end; diagnostics came back. Just a virus in the fuel monitor and use program; I'm running a scrub routine and updating the V.I.'s block database. Probably just a coincidence that you were watching asari porn while we were hardlined in dry dock and that's when the virus set in."

"Hey, don't judge...what me and my baby do in our down time is our business."

"...so weird that you call the Normandy your 'baby'."

"Listen, just because _you_ don't have anybody special in your life doesn't mean-"

"You watching porn on the clock again, Joker?" Shepard walked up to them just then, "At least have the decency to keep the audio on your private comm this time." The commander clasped his hands behind his back as he stood behind the pilot's chair, giving Kaidan a side-long glance. The lieutenant felt a drop of warmth spread from the pit of his stomach as he returned a shy smile. Shepard nodded at him, then turned back to Joker.

"How close are we to Noveria? I want this dealt with," Kaidan heard Shepard say as he started walking down the CIC. "Don't go too far, Kaidan, I want to talk to you when I'm done up here."

"Alright, Commander. I'm just going to hit the head, then talk to Ash. I noticed my pistol's pulling to the left after we dropped on Xawin; that krogan charging me didn't do it any favors..."

"Ok. Let me know if it's green, huh?"

"You'll be the first to know, Shepard," Kaidan tossed over his shoulder as he sauntered away. Joker wrinkled his nose.

"What is _with_ you two wanting to know if each other's piss is green? Asari porn is tame by that standard."

"Inside joke. Don't worry about it," Shepard retorted mildly as he leaned on the back of the helmsman's chair, "Back to the matter at hand..."

* * *

Ash scrunched her face in thought as she wiped down Garrus' Thunder VI assault rifle. "You want to do what?" she asked, a smear of grease on her cheek. Kaidan leaned against the workbench, arms crossed. "C'mon, Ash. Help me think of something. What does he like, or use, or really want?" the lieutenant asked, cocking his head to the side. Ashley raised an eyebrow at him as she disassembled the stock and barrel.

"Weapon-wise. Get your mind out of the gutter."

"I didn't say anything, LT, you did that all by yourself," she remarked, "Perhaps you should follow your own advice." He rolled his eyes at her. "Well, he's currently got a level three optics sensor. It's pretty underpowered for his skill level, though...I caught him upgrading everybody else's gear last week; he was going through our lockers again."

Kaidan rolled his lips inward, thinking. "D'you think he's skimping on his own equipment upgrades?"

"I know he is. It's going to catch up to him at some point...he just bought Tali a new set of armor, too. Quarian _anything_ ain't cheap," she said with a little bite, "And I know Liara was batting her eyes at him for a new bio-amp." She slammed the thermal sink home with more force than Kaidan thought was necessary, but he wasn't about to point it out to her when she picked up his Stiletto VII and eyed the sightline.

"At ease, Chief, everybody always needs something. And they know if they ask the commander, he'll get it for them. Which is why I think we should do something for him for a change."

She _tsk-tsked _him as she quickly dismantled his favorite weapon into a small pile of parts. She tossed his favored polonium ammo clip at him.

"Hang on to that in your locker; those have been in short supply lately. And next time you decide to take on a krogan, make sure you have your gun completely clear of the mag-lock harness. The trigger got bent and it's making you pull at a weird angle." Kaidan nodded, peering at the piece. "And I agree, we should do something. I'll talk to requistions about prices and you organize the money. Deal?"

"Deal."

* * *

It took every bit of the two weeks before Shepard's birthday to get the mod ordered and shipped. Kaidan had Liara and Tali on the look out for any kind of box, ribbon, bag, or wrapping paper they could find whenever they made port and there were merchants around. They managed to find black paper with red and white ribbons to match the N7 emblem on his armor. They were docked at the Citadel this time, and the crew had decided to give it to the commander immediately after dinner. Ashley had insisted on getting some kind of dessert while Shepard took a small shore party to deliver bad news to a gentleman named Garoth in the Citadel Tower.

Shepard came back to hide in his cabin and he was in a foul mood; he never liked telling people their family member was dead, and then he had gotten tangled in a mess with Alliance research division and one of Williams' old 212 squad-mate's spouse; he understood the man's request for his wife's body, but he had managed to convince him that she was more useful as a body with specific weapon damage that needed to have more tests run. And then don't even get started on the mess between the turian in C-Sec and a hanar's religious freedom rights... He had also seen the girls running around in passing and wondered aloud what they could possibly be up to.

Kaidan had simply shrugged and given him that twisted-lip, not-quite-a-smile _thing _that he did. Vakarian's mandibles flexed slightly. Neither one of them claimed to know anything. Shepard knew enough that they were both filthy liars about it, but he had been too grouchy to want to be engage in it further.

"Uh, Commander...?" Joker's voice came hesitantly through the comm, "There's an issue in the mess hall...Wrex threatened to headbutt Garrus again. I don't know how serious the threat was, but I don't really want a turian-shaped hole through my baby's hull."

Shepard furrowed his brow at that; he was in his cabin. He hadn't heard a peep from the mess; it was right outside his door.

"On my way."

He rolled his neck before exiting, thinking about what he was going to say. He squared his shoulders and put on a scowl, striding out the door purposefully and right smack-dab into the entire crew staring at him with happy grins on their faces. Williams was holding a massive plate full of brownies with a candle stuck in the top one. His scowl fell into confusion.

"What's all this? Guys...?"

"Happy Birthday!" "Happy Birthday, Commander!" "Another year older and uglier, amiright?" "Happy hatching day, pyjack!" rang out. His gaze swept over his crew and found a certain brown-eyed lieutenant leaning against a bulkhead, arms crossed with a smirk playing across his lips. He winked at the commander while Tali thrust the small wrapped box in his hands.

"We wanted to do something special for you, since you do so much for us, Commander," Liara said softly as Shepard unwrapped it. A new grade VIII kinetic coil gleamed against the dark paper. He felt a grin split his face.

"Wow! Thanks, everyone. This is really something."

Tali clapped her gloved hands together. "We all chipped in, Shepard. You're always upgrading us and we wanted to return the favor."

Ash came forward with the brownies, indicating he should blow out the candle.

"So how old, skipper?" she asked playfully as a thin tendril of smoke climbed towards the ceiling, "We gotta know how many punches to land."

"That's classified, Chief," Shepard chuckled, "Dig in. Is there enough for everyone?" She set the platter down on one of the mess tables.

"Yep. Even got a pan special for the dextro crowd." The crew mingled, grabbing the treats and talking loudly amongst themselves. Shepard tried to make his way to Kaidan but by the time he reached the bulkhead, the biotic had disappeared.

* * *

Later on when the crew had cleared out and mostly bunked down for the night, Shepard stood in front of his locker, inspecting the new mod. He couldn't wait to try it out. He was very touched by the gesture, though he had an idea where the thought behind it originated from.

"Commander?" came a soft greeting from behind. He turned, recognizing the husky voice.

"Kaidan," he greeted warmly, "I was looking for you earlier. Where'd you run off to?"

"The bridge. Too much noise for me down here at that point." The lieutenant leaned casually against the lockers. Shepard gave him a half-smile, eyes twinkling in good humor.

"I can only imagine who came up with this."

"It was a joint effort. I simply organized it."

"I see...Thank you. This is one of the better birthdays I've had. And here I was, thinking today was going to be just another ordinary day..."

"Ha! Ordinary enough for the Normandy, I guess," Kaidan replied. Shepard snorted as he leaned against the locker himself, nonchalantly letting their arms touch. Kaidan shivered appreciatively as he continued, "Well, birthday boy, it's not like you turn 29 every year. I have something else for you."

"Oh? Is it another ship-wide gift?"

"No..." Kaidan handed him a stiff envelope, "Something a little more personal. Me to you."

Shepard grinned when he opened it. A holo of the two of them on horse back from shore leave looked up at him. Cinder looked bored out of her mind and Commodore was preening in front of the camera. Shepard himself had a self-conscious smile behind his aviators while Kaidan had an eyebrow quirked.

"That was a good day."

"One of the best, despite everything," Kaidan agreed, sliding a little closer. Shepard fought the urge to pull the other man to him; regs were still in place. They shared another soft smile.

"Thank you, Kaidan. For everything."

"You're welcome, Shep."

"Think it'd be too weird if I invited you back to my cabin?"

Kaidan huffed a laugh and shook his head. "Probably, Shepard, probably. Where're you going to keep it? I mean, you could keep hang it up in your locker, but then if anybody saw it, they might ask questions."

"It'll go in one of my drawers. That way it'll be safe...this really means a lot to me, Kaidan. I mean it."

"I know, John. It's why I did it. But I'll leave you to it; I'm on duty at 0500 hr. It's already past when I should have been sleeping." He pushed himself off the locker as he squeezed Shepard's hand briefly and started to make his way to the battery where the sleeper pods were. Shepard caught his arm and held it for a moment, fingers playing with the downy fuzz on the lieutenant's forearm. Kaidan turned to look at him, smoldering brown eyes locking on blue.

"Have a good night, Lieutenant. I'll see you in the morning."

Kaidan nodded. "Commander," he said softly as he slipped out of Shepard's grasp, smile playing on his lips. Shepard sighed and looked at the picture again. He'd give anything to be back on the farm and orchard with Kaidan again. But the holo would have to do the trick in the meantime.

Having to maintain the illusion of 'commander/subordinate', 'friends only' was getting tedious. He closed his locker and made his way back to his cabin, silently cursing the 'no fraternization' regs for the umpteenth time since coming back from shore leave.

* * *

A/N: Happy Birthday, Shepard! Heavy references to _Wish You Were Here_, but can stand alone. Highly recommend reading it, though...just sayin'. ;)


End file.
